"To all the young people in our community, let this be a lesson for you all. This is not an example to be set for you."
-edison cHen-

A sex scandal overseas

Edison Chen, the Hong Kong star at the centre of Asia's biggest celebrity internet sex scandal, has apologised for the suffering he has caused and says he intends to take an indefinite break from acting so that he can devote himself to charity work.

Hong Kong actor and pop icon Edison Chen is at the center of a media maelstrom that's being called China's biggest Internet sex scandal. Meanwhile, the 27-year-old star may be holed up in Boston, Forbes.com reported yesterday. The scandal erupted a few weeks ago when more than 1,000 sexually explicit images of Chen with some of Hong Kong's best-known starlets were swiped from his computer when he took it to a shop for repairs.

According to reports, Chen's photos show him with eight well-known women, including Maggie Q, Bobo Chan, and Cecelia Cheung and Gillian Chung of the pop duo the Twins. Perhaps best known to American audiences as a star of "Infernal Affairs," which Martin Scorsese remade here as "The Departed," Chen reportedly has a girlfriend who attends college in Boston. Chen's US representatives did not return calls yesterday. Considered one of Hong Kong's most likable and bankable stars before this controversy, Chen risks more than embarrassment. In addition to his thriving movie career, Chen has endorsement deals with Samsung Electronics, Pepsi, and Levi's, according to Forbes.com.